Love butterflies as much as we do and also in Victoria, BC? Then fly on over to the Victoria Butterfly Gardens Jungle Experience!
The Victoria Butterfly Gardens is a great supplement to a visit to the Butchart Gardens, or to beat the rainy day blues. The Victoria Butterfly Gardens were convenient for us as we headed to the B.C. Ferries to continue on to Vancouver, so we were able to hang out with some butterflies and get out of the rain.
*Trigger warning: If you are the teensiest bit squeamish about insects, click here to jump past the Insectarium portion of the tour.
The first portion of the Jungle Experience led us to the Insectarium. It was so cool to see these tiny creatures from all over the world up close and personal. Our favorite exhibit was the leaf-cutter ants!
We loved playing a little game of “spot the insect” at each of the exhibits!
This allowed us to tie our homeschool curriculum in about camouflage and how it helps these insects in their natural habitats.
After we spotted all of the insects, we followed the whimsical trail of butterflies into the Butterfly Gardens. Once we entered this tropical rainforest oasis our heads were constantly on a swivel!
Everywhere you turned there was something new to discover. The Butterfly Gardens are anything but a Butterly-only zone. We discovered turtles, tortoises, parrots, a macaw, frogs, an iguana, and even flamingoes alongside up to 70 different species of butterflies!
I felt like to had really stepped into the Jungle! Other Butterfly Gardens I have visited primarily have the plants and flowers that butterflies like, but I have never experienced such a cohesive experience. To see all of these species of plants, animals, and butterflies co-existing in this big space was awe-inspiring.
We spent about 1 hour here at the Butterfly Gardens but could have easily spent longer identifying the butterflies.
Autism Spectrum Travel Tips:
- The Victoria Butterfly Gardens have done a great job of designing a reference guide & app for the entire jungle experience that provides a guided tour. This allowed Roo to create her own adventure and search out the insects, butterflies, and animals.
- The Butterfly Gardens are humid and can get hot pretty quickly. This was great for us because it was chilly outside, but Roo started feeling uncomfortable around the 1-hour mark.
- Bring water! Because the butterfly gardens are humid you will be pretty thirsty once you finish visiting the butterflies.
- The Victoria Butterfly Gardens are wheelchair accessible, however, to keep the butterflies from escaping the doors are not automatic. The staff is more than happy to assist guests that need assistance with the doors.
Disclosure: Thank you to the Victoria Butterfly Gardens for hosting our family for this Jungle Experience! All opinions are my own.
